Waiting on Wilma

Hurricane plods toward Florida as residents flee

DAVID ROYSEAssociated Press Writer

Published Saturday, October 22, 2005

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EVACUEES Cliff and Mildred Blackwell keep an eye on Hurricane Wilma on Friday at Kenilworth Lodge in Sebring. The couple left their mobile home in Sebring to stay in the hotel because they are expecting a mandatory evacuation at their mobile home park, Buttonwood Bay.

By KATHY WATERS, Highlands Today KEY WEST -- Residents began fleeing the Florida Keys and parts of the mainland Friday as Hurricane Wilma plodded toward Florida, its slower-than-expected path prolonging the anxious wait for a fierce storm that could hit the state Monday.

The Category 4 hurricane earlier had been expected to strike somewhere on Florida's west coast this weekend. Its erratic movement frustrated residents already worried about what would be the eighth hurricane to hit or pass near the state since August 2004.

"I certainly wish it would make its mind up. That would help us figure how to make our minds up," said Dan Buckner, executive director of Charlotte Regional Medical Center in Punta Gorda.

The hospital, which sustained tens of millions of dollars in damage last year from Hurricane Charley, was discharging as many patients as possible, had reduced elective surgeries and prepared to evacuate patients if needed.

Scattered gas shortages were reported in parts of Florida, but Gov. Jeb Bush said the state had a 10-day supply of fuel. Some highways were jammed as people fled the west coast, but police told the governor most of the congestion was from accidents.

"Today's message is really to prepare and stay aware," Bush told reporters in Tallahassee. "I understand it can be really frustrating."

At 8 p.m. EDT, the hurricane's winds were at 140 mph as the storm moved slowly over the Mexican resort island of Cozumel. Wilma was about 440 miles southwest of Key West and moving northwest at about 4 mph. The outer rainbands had begun to affect South Florida.

Landfall in Florida was not likely until sometime Monday afternoon. Wilma will likely linger over the Yucatan for a few days, which should weaken the hurricane's top sustained winds to 130 mph or lower.

"That would obviously be terrible news for Mexico, but for the United States interests it means that we'll have a weaker hurricane coming out into the Gulf of Mexico and it will be slower in getting here," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Monroe County, which includes the Florida Keys, encouraged voluntary evacuations for all residents of the low-lying island chain Friday, and on the Gulf Coast, Collier County ordered mandatory evacuations for Naples and Marco Island.

In the past, many residents in the free-spirited Keys ignored evacuation orders. But on Friday, the streets were nearly empty and plywood covered most windows, a familiar scene because of previous hurricanes. Katrina's death and destruction also made people pay closer attention.

"The economy of life is greater than the economy of substance," Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson said.

At the Greystone Mobile Home Park near Marco Island about 100 miles to the north, most residents had left, although a handful of old-timers resisted.

"A state policeman told me to take a permanent marker and write their names on their heads, arms and legs" so their bodies could be identified, said Ellen Guidis, the park's manager. "And when I tell them that they're like, 'OK, we'll go,'"